1. Technical Field
The disclosure generally relates to gas turbine engine repair.
2. Description of the Related Art
Turbine blades are typically mounted to a disk that is attached to a rotating spool for rotating the blades. In order to prevent gas from leaking around the distal ends of the blades, knife edge seals can be used. Conventionally, a knife edge seal is formed by a conformable portion of a turbine casing and a complementary-shaped distal end portion of a turbine blade known as “knife edge”. In use, the knife edge can contact the turbine casing and, thus, tends to wear over time.
Traditionally, knife edges that are degraded, e.g., worn beyond prescribed operating limits, are remedied by replacement or repair. In the case of replacement, the entire disk and associated blades are removed from the engine and new disk and blades are installed. In the case of repair, a weld process or thermal spray can be used to build-up material at the wear location. However, some materials, such as IN-100 high-temperature nickel superalloy are not conventionally considered candidates for such repair due to the difficulty of welding IN100 material.